The Role of Leisure Engagement in Older Adults Adapting to New Residences and Experiencing Other Transitions during a Pandemic

Abstract

Older adults experience a transition when moving, and moving during a pandemic creates additional challenges. Leisure activities are linked to providing life satisfaction and maintaining identity among older adults experiencing life transitions such as moving to assisted living, widowhood, and caregiving responsibilities. Despite this link, there is a paucity of literature describing leisure’s role in adapting to new homes. A modified ethnographic approach was used to explore leisure’s role in older adults adapting to moving and other transitions during COVID-19. The analysis revealed that participants used leisure activities to maintain identity and to maintain and establish social circles after moving. We suggest that identity is essential to adaptation and should be added to current conceptualizations. This research has implications for practitioners and policy makers working in the community to address issues older adults may be facing by developing policies and programming that support older adults moving to new neighborhoods.